Improvement in cigar-molds



i ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES i). OULP, 'on GILROY, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ClGAR-MOLDS.

Specificatio forming part of Letters Patent No. [69,778, dated November 9, 1875; application filed August 4, 1875.

To all whom it may concm:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. CULP, of Gilroy, Santa Clara county, State of California, have invented an Improved Cigar-Mold; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use my said inve'ntion or improvement without further invention or eX- periment.

My invention consists in constructing the molds or matrices which are used for bunching and prepariug cigar-fillers for the wrapper in an oval form, so that the filler will be made up in the form of an oval instead of a cylinder, as heretofore.

I have discovered that, by making the filler of an oval form in the molds, and rolling it to the circuler form when covering it with the w1'apper,I can prodnce a cigar that cannot be distinguished from the hand-made article, while the disarrangement'of the particles of the filler, which is ocoasioned by the change of form, loosens up the layers of tobacco, so I that the cigar will smoke freely, whereas, by the ordinary process, when the filler is made cylndrical or circular in the mold, and simply wrapped after it is removed from it, the layers are apt to become packed, so that the cigar will not smoke freely. 4

In the present instance I have represented my improvement as applied to that class of cigar-molds which are composed of sheetmetal matrices in a parallel row to a wooden backing.

The oval form of the matrices can be obtained in various ways, such as deepening the matrices, so that the npper set will not enter the lower set far enough to complete the circular form, or by lengthening the end blocks and partitions which separate the two parts of the mold so that they cannot be closed together sufficiently to form a circular space between them.

Iu the present instance I have represented the latter method.

In the drawngs, Figure 1 is an end View of the mold. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through one of the matrices.

A is the wooden hacking of the lower Inatrices or main portion of the mold, and I b b are the matrices which are secured to the hacking. These matrices have circular bottons and straight sides, as represented, while the matrices e of the upper part O of the mold are also curved, and enter the open top of the lower matrices. Usually the upper matrices enter the lower matrices far enough to form a circular mold between them. The end blocks E and partition F of the frame are made just high enough to allow the two parts of the mold to fit together, so as to provide the desired shape between the two parts of the mold. By my improvement I make these end blocks and partitions higher than heretofore, so that the upper parts e of each mold will not descend low enough in the lower parts b Z to form a cylindrical mold, but will keep them sufficiently separated to provide a mold with an oval section. The lower molds could be deepened, so as to give the same eficct; but either plan can be adopted. 4

It will be seen that When the filler is made and pressed into an oval form in the molds, the dsarrangement of the layers of the tobacco caused by rolling it to a cylindrical form will loosen up the filler, so that the cigar will smoke freely, while at the same time it reders the filler compact, and similar in appearance to a hand-made cigar, Whereas if the filler was pressed into a circnlar form, and afterward simply covered with a wrapper, the cigar is liable to be tight, and disagreeable to smoke. i I

By making the filler oval, and then rolling it to a circular form, I am also able to make a longer, larger, and more profitable cigar out of the same quantityof tobacco that would be used in a shorter cigar made in the ordinary way.

The essence of my invention, therefore, consists' in molding and pressing the filler in a mold which is of a different form from the finished cigar, and then rolling and finishing the cigar when the wrapper is being applied.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process herein described o f making eigar-fillers, under pressure, in e mold that is is in exeess of the horizontal diameter of the arrested. in its elosing before attaining to a cigar-forming, space, as and for the purpose perfect circle, and then giving to the cigar a described.

circular tapering form in applying the Wrap- JAMES 1 GULP. per, as and for the purpose set forth. Witnesses:

2. The cigar-mold A G and e b,. limited in JNO. L. BOONE,

closing by the strips E, whereby the vertical ALEXANDER D. BELL. 

